Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God. Psalm 43: 5, NKJV.
Gracious God, it is good to know that even after we are cast down, by Your grace, we can rise to new life in Christ Jesus! For this we give You praise, in His holy name. Amen.
Let us take a look at the last half of verse 2 again, “Why do You cast me off?” The psalmist is talking to God, his God. This is the God who, “took Me out of the womb; you made Me trust while on My mother’s breasts. I was cast upon You from birth. From My mother’s womb You have been My God” (Psalm 22: 9, 10). He knows God. This same God delivered him from the womb of his mother, and has been his God from that time forward. But today, he feels as if he has been cast off.
This is one good example of why we cannot trust our feelings – we need to trust God! Oftentimes, our feelings will deceive us. They have been tampered with, by the Adversary. We have been spoiled by sin, and have come to see evil as good, and good, as evil. Jesus, in His parable of the Wheat and Tares said the following: ” ‘An enemy has done this’ ” (Matthew 13: 28). The Adversary has undone, what God did for us at creation. He has made havoc of our thinking process, because he knows that what we think, determines our behavior (Luke 6: 45). We have been made to feel that God’s love for us is conditional, and that we have to earn it. We need divine help if we are to be saved from his wiles, and only God can fix it (Matthew 13: 29, 30).
He even tried to tamper with the mind of Christ! Note his timing: at the beginning of Christ’s ministry, and at the close. Christ, knowing what He had come to earth to do, and what He would suffer, had fasted for forty days and nights. The Adversary knew this, and when He was weak and hungry, attacked Him with thoughts of doubt: “If You are the Son of God . . .” (see Matthew 3: 13-4: 11, emphasis provided). When Jesus agonized in the Garden of Gethsemane, as He began to feel the sins of the world separating Him from His Father, not even His disciples were able to stay awake and help Him pray (Luke 22″ 39-44). Then, as He hung dying on the cross, once again He is attacked by the Adversary, with the thought that He had been forsaken by the Father (Mark 15: 33, 34)!
The enemy studies us, and watches for when we are most vulnerable, to launch his attacks. Therefore, we must “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26: 41)! But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ! Because Christ knew the wideness, endlessness, and unconditionality of the Father’s love, He was not left to despair. In His final moment, and with His last breath, His faith took hold of the Father’s love, and He gained the victory (Luke 22: 46)! So can we!
When Christ gained the victory, He laid it to your account and mine. Praise God! We need never again, feel cast down, or, cast off, by the Father, Son, or, Holy Spirit! May we make good use of the Savior’s victory on our behalf, and rest in the certainty of heaven’s love for us!